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# Regular Orders

#### by Mark D F Shirley

The copyright of this article remains with the original author. Articles may be copied or distributed freely for personal non-profit use, provided that the author is properly credited.

## Monks

A monk may be conveniently defined as a member of a community of men, leading a more or less contemplative life apart from the world, under the vows of poverty, chastity, and obedience, according to a rule characteristic of the particular order to which he belongs. The word monk is not itself a term commonly used in the official language of the Church. It is a popular rather than a scientific designation, but is at the same time very ancient, so much so that its origin cannot be precisely determined. So far as regards the English form of the word, that undoubtedly comes from the Anglo-Saxon munuc, which has in turn arisen from the Latin monachus, a mere transliteration of the Greek monachos. This Greek form is commonly believed to be connected with monos, lonely or single, and is suggestive of a life of solitude.

In any case the fact remains that the word monachus in the fourth century was freely used of those consecrated to God, whether they lived as hermits or in communities. So again St. Benedict a little later (c. 535) states at the beginning of his rule that there are four kinds of monks (monachi):

- cenobites who live together under a rule or an abbot
- anchorites or hermits, who after long training in the discipline of a community, go forth to lead a life of solitude (and of both of these classed he approves); but also
- "sarabites" and
- "girovagi" (wandering monks), whom he strongly condemns as men whose religious life is but a pretence, and who do their own without the restraint of obedience.

It is probably due to the fact that the Rule of St. Benedict so constantly describes the brethren as monachi and their residence as monaslerium, that a tradition has arisen according to which these terms in Latin and English (though not so uniformly in the case of the corresponding German and French works) are commonly applied only to those religious bodies which in some measure reproduce the conditions of life contemplated in the old Benedictine Rule. The mendicant friars, e.g. the Dominicans, Franciscans, Carmelites, etc., though they live in community and chant the Divine Office in choir, are not correctly described as monks. Their work of preaching, mixing with their fellow men in the world, soliciting alms, and moving from place to place, is inconsistent with the monastic ideal. The same is to be said of the "clerks regular", like the Jesuits, in whose rule the work of the apostolate is regarded as so important that it is considered incompatible with the obligation of singing office in choir. Again members of the religious congregations of men, which take simple but not solemn vows, are not usually designated as monks. On the other hand it should be noted that in former days a monk, even though he sang office in choir, was not necessarily a priest, the custom in this respect having changed a good deal since medieval times. Besides the Benedictines with their various modifications and offshoots, i.e. the Cluniacs, Cistercians, Trappists etc., the best known orders of monks are the Carthusians, the Premonstratensians, and the Camaldolese. The honorary prefix Dom, an abbreviation of Dominus, is given to Benedictines and Carthusians.

There are a number of stages a monk goes through before taking permanent vows:

1. Aspirant: One year of contemplation, discussion, and retreats at the monastery as the Aspirant searches to make sure this is a good decision for him, and the monastery community checks him out as well.
2. Postulant: Six months long. Lay clothes.
3. Noviate: Two years of initiation, study, and testing. White robes, usually.
4. Temporary Vows: Receive proper habit for order. Temporary vows are renewed each year for at least three and no more than nine.
5. Solemn, Permanent Vows: Full entrance into brotherhood.

Some of the best known orders of monks are described below.

Canons Regular

The Canons Regular (also known as the Austin or Augustinian Canons) live under the rule of St. Augustine but staff many cathedrals. This order is the equivalent of a guild for cathedral staff rather than a monastery or begging order. The canons maintain the cathedrals, leading services, hearing confessions and taking care of day-to-day operations. This frees the bishop to allow him to administer to the entire diocese. The Augustinian canons are most influential in Rome, southern Germany and Lorraine, but can be found in most locations in Europe. The king of Scotland has recently established three chapters. Canon chapters may be male or female.

Benedictine Order

The monastic order which grew out of the foundation by St. Benedict of the abbey of Monte Cassino in Italy in the sixth century. He established the Benedictine Rule, which envisaged the monk as a brother in a family, under the authority of an abbot, and devoted to the service of God. Monks take vows of personal poverty, chastity and obedience to their abbot and the Benedictine Rule.

For nearly four centuries the Benedictine Order was the sole monastic order in the Church.

Carthusian Order

A monastic order founded in 1084 by St. Bruno of Cologne in Grenoble, France. The order is noted both for its austerity and its high level of spiritual life. They take a vow of silence and live in separate cells where they pray, eat, sleep and study. They gather in the church only for the night office, morning mass and vespers. They only eat together on Sundays, at which time they are allowed a brief period of conversation. Many wear hair shirts and abstain from eating meat.

Cisterican Order

Founded in 1098 in Citeaux, France by St Robert. Other leaders included St Alberic (d. 1109) and St Stephan Harding (d. 1134). The aim of the Order was to return to the original Benedictine practice of monasticism by introducing a greater degree of solitude. As a result most Cistercian monasteries are in secluded areas. The order has grown dramatically and is now one of the most popular of monastic orders.

Under Cistercian rule, individual houses are autonomous, except for an annual visit from the abbot of the founding house. Cistercians are also opposed to acquisition of feudal revenues, although this rule is not always strictly observed. Cistercians are sometimes called White Monks because of the colour of their habits. They wore a black cowl and hood.

Congregation of Cluny

An organisation of monastic houses affiliated with the Benedictine monastery of Cluny, France. The association began when William, Duke of Aquitaine, founded Cluny in 910 then declared it free of his feudal control. This was done in the hope that once free of secular interference, the monasteries could reach and preserve a high level of spiritual life.

By 1150 there were some 300 Cluniac houses throughout Europe, mostly in Spain and France. Cluniac houses stress liturgical service: their monks spend much of their day in prayer. The Cluniac reform movement, which has taken its name from the Congregation of Cluny is attempting to eliminate lay investiture, concubinage of the clergy and simony. They wore a black habit, true to their Benedictine rule.

Gilbertine Order

This monastic order was founded in 1131 by Gilbert of Semprigham. In that year Gilbert organised a community consisting of seven young women and introduced a rule patterned after that of the Cistercians. When that order refused to assume direction of the group he turned to the Augustinian canons. In 1148 the Gilbertines were given papal approval, with Gilbert as the master general. They are organised in double monasteries and are the only monastic order to originate in England.

Humiliati

The Humiliati are a mendicant monastic order drawn from the nobility of Lombardy and Italy. They live the Apostolic life, administering to the poor and diseased. They were forbidden to preach by the Third Lateran Council in 1179, and were actually excommunicated by Lucius III (1191-1185). Innocent III re-organised the Humiliati into a triple order: celibate laity, married laity and canons / sisters in double monasteries. The laity had the right to preach as long as they only exhort the Christian life and do not speak on matters of theology.

The Humiliati also developed a method of weaving extremely fine woollen cloth, nearly as thin as silk. Many Italian cities claim the Humiliati have demonic aid and are campaigning for the order being declared heretical.

Praemonstratensian Order

Properly called the Order of the Canons Regular of Premontre, and sometimes known as the Norbertines after Norbert of Xanten who established the order in 1120. They originate from the Augustinian Order and are greatly influenced by Cistercian teaching. The Praemonstratensian combine a contemplative life with active teaching and preaching. They are known as the White Canons from the colour of their habits. The order started as a double order of monks and nuns, living in double monasteries of men and women. However the presence of men and women under one roof had predictable results and separate monasteries and nunneries were established in the mid 12th century. In 1198 the order admitted no more women.

Each morning the brothers leave the monastery to beg and preach, and tend to the sick and the poor, and assist farmers with their chores. In return, the monastery receives part of the harvest. A small portion of the food given is kept, and the rest is distributed to the alms houses built into the outer wall of the monasteries.

Tironensian Order

Founded in 1114 as a reformed Benedictine congregation in the diocese of Chartres. The name is derived from the tirones (apprentices) who were united by the founder of the order to pursue their skills in the service of God. King David of Scotland was particularly fond of this order and established eight houses.

## Oblati

Oblati (oblatæ, oblates) is a word used to describe any persons, not professed monks or friars, who have been offered to God, or have dedicated themselves to His service, in holy religion. It has had various particular uses at different periods in the history of the Church. The children vowed and given by their parents to the monastic life, in houses under the Rule of St. Benedict, were commonly known by the name during the century and a half when the custom was in vogue, and the councils of the Church treated them as monks - that is, until the Council of Toledo (656) forbade their acceptance before the age of ten and granted them free permission to leave the monastery, if they wished, when they reached the age of puberty. At a later date the word "oblate" was used to describe such lay men or women as were pensioned off by royal and other patrons upon monasteries or benefices, where they lived as in an almshouse or hospital. In the eleventh century, it is on record that Abbot William of Hirschau or Hirsau, in the old Diocese of Spires, introduced lay brethren into the monastery. They were or two kinds: the fratres barbati or conversi, who took vows but were not claustral or enclosed monks, and the oblati, workmen or servants who voluntarily subjected themselves, whilst in the service of the monastery, to religious obedience and observance. Afterwards, the different status of the lay brother in the several orders of monks, and the ever-varying regulations concerning him introduced by the many reforms, destroyed the distinction between the conversus and the oblatus. The Cassinese Benedictines, for instance at first carefully differentiated between conversi, commissi, and oblati; the nature of the vows and the forms of the habits were in each case specifically distinct. The conversus, the lay brother properly so called, made solemn vows like the choir monks, and wore the scapular; the commissus made simple vows, and was dressed like a monk, but without the scapular; the oblatus made a vow of obedience to the abbot, gave himself and his goods to the monastery, and wore a sober secular dress.

Canonically, only two distinctions were ever of any consequence: first, that between those who entered religion per modum professionis and per modum simplicis conversionis the former being monachi and the later oblati; secondly, that between the oblate who was mortuus mundo (that is, who had given himself and his goods to religion without reservation), and the oblate who retained some control over his person and his possessions -- the former only (plene oblatus) was accounted a persona ecclesiastica, with enjoyment of ecclesiastical privileges and immunity.

Sarabaites

A class of monks widely spread before the time of St. Benedict. They either continued like the early ascetics, to live in their own homes, or dwelt together in or near cities. They acknowledged no monastic superior, obeyed no definite rule, and disposed individually of the product of their manual labour. St. Jerome speaks of them under the name of Remoboth, and Jolm Cassian tells of their wide diffusion in Egypt and other lands. Both writers express a very unfavourable opinion concerning their conduct, and a reference to them in the Rule of St. Benedict is of similar import. At a later date the name Sarabaites, the original meaning of which cannot be determined, designated in a general way degenerate monks.

## Monastic Orders in Ars Magica

Monks do not make good Ars Magica characters, for the simple reason that they are, in general, a contemplative order and are therefore not available for adventuring in the normal manner of the game. However, some potential monk character ideas are:

- A Praemonstratensian, who, though returning to his monastery after each day of pastoral work, could become involved in stories.
- A hermit (also known as an eremite or anchorite) who is not committed to a particular order, may become involved in the occasional story. Such hermits are often credited with having holy powers
- Some Orders, such as the Benedictines, establish their monasteries in towns, and may involve themselves quite heavily in secular matters, despite their vows. Some are even seconded by nobility to act as tutors or spiritual advisors, though this is a role usually conducted by the mendicant orders.
- Aspirants, postulants and noviates are monks who are yet to take permanent vows. It would be highly irregular for such to leave the confines of the monastery, but they are not held by any vows to do so.
- Oblates are lay members of monasteries. They swear vows of obedience to the abbot, which may involve running errands or discovering information.
- Canons are intermediate between regular clergy and monks. Though they are required to live in a religious community, sing the Divine Offices, and perform other monastic duties, they are also required to follow the example of the Apostles - preaching, performing the sacraments, etc.

For those that wish to play a monk (of whatever type), the following Companion Social virtues will be needed.

Canon +2: you are a cleric who follows the Rule of St. Augustine, an intermediate between monk and priest. You live in community, lead the life of a religious, sings the praises of God by the daily recitation of the Divine Office in choir; but at the same time, at the bidding of your superiors, you are prepared to follow the example of the Apostles by preaching, teaching, and the administration of the sacraments, or by giving hospitality to pilgrims and travellers, and tending the sick. You are an ordained priest and administer to laity and clergy alike. You may work in a cathedral at the behest of a bishop. You have the benefits of the Educated Virtue, and have taken vows of obedience, poverty and chastity, like a monk. You have an extra 7 experience points to spend on Theology, Lectio, Chirurgy, Folk Ken, Church Lore and/or Sing.

Monk +2: You are a member of one of the contemplative orders and as such have taken vows of chastity, poverty and obedience. You are likely to be an ordained priest (though this is not necessarily so), but it is highly irregular for you to administer sacraments to laity. Your chores might include physical labour, administering to the sick or preaching, depending upon the order to which you belong. You should not own any property, save that which is given to you. You have a Good Reputation at level 2 as a holy man (note that some orders might result in a bad reputation as well), and have the benefits of the Educated Virtue as well as having an extra 7 experience points to spend on Theology, Church Lore, Speak Latin, Scribe Latin and/or Sing.

Oblate +0: You have taken vows of obedience to an abbot, and are thus one of the lay members of a monastic community. You will not have any property of your own, having handed over your worldly goods to the order, but food and lodging are provided by the monastery. You are expected to labour on behalf of the monastery, spend time in religious observation, and wear sombre secular dress. You have a Good Reputation at level 1 as a pious man.

## Friars

[From Lat. frater, through O. Fr. fredre, frere, M. E. frere; It. frate (as prefix fra); Sp. fraile (as prefix fray); Port. fret; unlike the other Romance languages French has but the one word frère for friar and brother].

A friar is a member of one of the mendicant orders. In the early Church it was usual for all Christians to address each other as fratres or brothers, all being children of the one Heavenly Father, through Christ. Later, with the rise and growth of the monastic orders, the appellation began gradually to have a more restricted meaning; for obviously the bonds of brotherhood were drawn more closely between those who lived under the rule and guidance of one spiritual father, their abbot. The word occurs at an early date in English literature with the signification of brother, and from the end of the thirteenth century it is in frequent use referring to the members of the mendicant orders. The word was also loosely applied to members of monastic and military orders, and at times to the convent of a particular order, and hence to the part of a town in which such a convent had been located.

The word friar is to be carefully distinguished in its application from the word monk. For the monk retirement and solitude are undisturbed by the public ministry, unless under exceptional circumstances. His vow of poverty binds him strictly as an individual but in no way affects the right of tenure of his order. In the life of the friar, on the contrary, the exercise of the sacred ministry is an essential feature, for which the life of the cloister is considered as but an immediate preparation. His vow of poverty, too, not only binds him as an individual to the exercise of that virtue, but, originally at least, precluded also the right of tenure in common with his brethren. Thus originally the various orders of friars could possess no fixed revenues and lived upon the voluntary offerings of the faithful. Hence their name of mendicants. This second feature, by which the friar's life differs so essentially from that of the monk, has become considerably modified since the Council of Trent. In Session XXV, ch. iii, "De Regular.", all the mendicant orders -- the Friars Minor and Capuchins alone excepted -- were granted the liberty of corporate possession. It may, however, be pertinently remarked here that the Jesuits, though mendicants in the strict sense of the word, as is evident from the very explicit declaration of St. Pius V, are classed not as mendicants or friars, but as clerics regular, being founded with a view to devoting themselves, even more especially than the friars, to the exercise of the sacred ministry.

## Orders of Friars

The orders of friars are usually divided into two classes: the four great orders mentioned by the Second Council of Lyons and the lesser orders.

The four great orders in their legal precedence are: (1) the Dominicans; (2) the Franciscans; (3) the Carmelites, (4) the Augustinians.

The Dominicans, or Friars Preachers

Also known as the Black Friars, from the black cappa or mantle worn over their white habit. The Dominicans were founded by St. Dominic in 1215 and solemnly approved by Honorius III, in 1216, becoming a mendicant order in 1221. They were formed specifically to bring the Albigensians back to the Church by logic, teaching and example. Scholasticism is important to the Dominicans, and they are often found at universities. They continued to preach against heresy after the defeat of the Albigensians, and formed the basis for the Holy Inquisition. They were occasionally referred to as the Hounds of God (domini-canis). There were three branches of the order: a) the male mendicant preachers, b) the enclosed contemplative nuns, and c) the Tertiaries, who where laity and either lived in communities or in the secular world.

The Franciscans, or Friars Minor

The "Grey Friars" were founded by St. Francis of Assisi, who is rightly regarded as the patriarch of the mendicant orders. His rule was orally approved by Innocent III in 1209 and solemnly confirmed by Honorius III in 1223. The Rule of St. Francis is very strict, and forbids any Fransciscan monk from owning property. After Francis's death in 1226 some Franciscans try to ease his Rule; this results in the division between the Conventuals (who own property) and the Spirituals (who observe the rule literally). They wear a habit of coarse grey cloth with a distinctive pointed hood. They are associated with the Poor Clares.

The Carmelites

Called the White Friars, from the white cloak which covers their brown habit, were founded as a purely contemplative order. They began as separate groups of hermits on the slopes of Mount Carmel in the Holy Land. They fled the Muslims in 1238 and developed chapters throughout Europe, becoming a mendicant Order in 1245. They received the approbation of Honorius III in 1226 and later of Innocent IV in 1247.

They pattern themselves strongly on the Dominicans in their aims and goals, practising abstinence, silence, fasting, living as hermits with a common church. Carmelite monasteries are likely to be found in wildernesses, and they discourage gifts of land or money, preferring to farm their own food.

The Austins, or Hermits of St. Augustine

The Austin Friars, or the Order of Service, trace their origin to the illustrious Bishop of Hippo. The various branches which subsequently developed were united and constituted from various bodies of Italian orders and hermits a mendicant order by Alexander IV (1256). The mendicant friars live the apostolic life in towns, doing good works. They are likely to be found caring for the sick and poor, or giving children the rudiments of an education. Austin Friars are very active in Italian and Sicilian universities, and at least one is commonly found at most other universities in Europe. Naturally they tend towards the subject of Theology in their teachings. They wore black habits.

These four orders are called by canonists the quatuor ordines mendicantes de iure communi. The Fourth Lateran Council had forbidden in 1215 the foundation of any new religious orders. In face of this prohibition a sufficient number of new congregations, especially of mendicants, had sprung up to attract the attention of the Second Council of Lyons. The Council, while specially exempting the four mendicant orders above mentioned, condemns all other mendicant orders then existing to immediate or to gradual extinction. All orders established since the Council of Lateran, and not approved by the Holy See, were to be dissolved at once. Those since established with such approval were forbidden to receive new members. The illustrious order of Service, founded in 1233 and approved by Alexander IV in 1256, happily survived this condemnation. Concerning the four greater orders, the council concludes: "Be it understood, however, that we do not conceive of the extension of this constitution to the Orders of Friars Preachers and of Friars Minor, whose evident service to the universal Church is sufficient approval. As for the Hermits of St. Augustine and the Order of Caramelites, whose foundation preceded the said Council (Fourth Lateran), we wish them to remain as solidly established as heretofore".

The so-styled lesser orders were founded and approved at various subsequent times, generally outside the period of Ars Magica.

## Mendicant Orders in Ars Magica

Mendicants are quite common in Mythic Europe. For more information, see the article "Monks and Mendicants" on p.54 of A Medieval Tapestry. The +1 Companion Status Virtue Mendicant provides for the game mechanics of such.

## Nuns

The institution of nuns and sisters, who devote themselves in various religious orders to the practice of a life of perfection, dates from the first ages of the Church, and women may claim with a certain pride that they were the first to embrace the religious state for its own sake, without regard to missionary work and ecclesiastical functions proper to men. St. Paul speaks of widows, who were called to certain kinds of church work (1 Tim., v, 9), and of virgins (1 Cor., vii), whom he praises for their continence and their devotion to the things of the Lord. The virgins were remarkable for their perfect and perpetual chastity which the Catholic Apologists have extolled as a contrast to pagan corruption. Many also practised poverty. From the earliest times they were called the spouses of Christ, according to St. Athanasius. Tertullian distinguishes between those virgins who took the veil publicly in the assembly of the faithful, and others known to God alone; the veil seems to have been simply that of married women. Virgins vowed to the service of God, at first continued to live with their families, but as early as the end of the third century there were community houses known as partheuones; and certainly at the beginning of the same century the virgins formed a special class in the Church, receiving Holy Communion before the laity. The office of Good Friday in which the virgins are mentioned after the porters, and the Litany of the Saints, in which they are invoked with the widows, shows traces of this classification. They were sometimes admitted among the deaconesses for the baptism of adult women and to exercise the functions which St. Paul had reserved for widows of sixty years.

When the persecutions of the third century drove many into the desert, the solitary life produced many heroines; and when the monks began to live in monasteries, there were also communities of women. St. Pachomius (292-346) built a convent in which a number of religious women lived with his sister. St. Jerome made famous the monastery of St. Paula at Bethlehem. St. Augustine addressed to the nuns a letter of direction from which subsequently his rule was taken. There were monasteries of virgins or nuns at Rome, throughout Italy, Gaul, Spain, and the West. The great founders or reformers of monastic or more generally religious life, saw their rules adopted by women. The nuns of Egypt and Syria cut their hair, a practice not introduced until later into the West. Monasteries of women were generally situated at a distance from those of men; St. Pachomius insisted on this separation, also St. Benedict. There were, however, common houses, one wing being set apart for women and the other for men, more frequently adjoining houses for the two sexes. Justinian abolished these double houses in the East, placed an old man to look after the temporal affairs of the convent, and appointed a priest and a deacon who were to perform their duties, but not to hold any other communication with the nuns. In the West, such double houses existed among the hospitallers even in the twelfth century. In the eighth and ninth centuries a number of clergy of the principal churches of the West, without being bound by religious profession, chose to live in community and to observe a fixed rule of life. This canonical life was led also by women, who retired form the world, took vows of chastity, dressed modestly in black, but were not bound to give of their property. Continence and a certain religious profession were required of married women whose husbands were in Sacred Orders, or even received episcopal consecration.

Hence in the ninth century the list of women vowed to the service of God included these various classes:

- virgins, whose solemn consecration was reserved to the bishop
- nuns bound by religious profession
- deaconesses engaged in the service of the church, and
- the wives or widows of men in Sacred Orders.

The nuns sometimes occupied a special house; the enclosure strictly kept in the East, was not considered indispensable in the West. Other monasteries allowed the nuns to go in and out. In Gaul and Spain the novitiate lasted one year for the cloistered nuns and three years for the others. In early times the nuns gave Christian education to orphans, young girls brought by their parents, and especially girls intending to embrace a religious life. Besides those who took the veil of virgins of their own accord, or decided to embrace the religious life, there were others who were offered by their parents by their parents before they were old enough to be consulted. In the West under the discipline in force for several centuries, these oblates were considered as bound for life by the offering made by their parents. The profession itself might be expressed or implied. One who put on the religious habit, and lived for some time among the professed, was herself considered as professed. Besides the taking of the veil and simple profession there was also a solemn consecration of virginity which took place much later, at twenty-five years. In the thirteenth century, the Mendicant Orders appeared characterised by a more rigorous poverty, which excluded not only private property, but also the possession of certain kinds of property in common. Under the direction of St. Francis of Assisi, St. Clare founded in 1212 the Second Order of Franciscans. St. Dominic had given a constitution to nuns, even before instituting his Friars Preachers in 1216. The Carmelites and the Hermits of St. Augustine also had corresponding orders of women.

From the time of the Mendicant Orders, founded specially for preaching and missionary work, there was a great difference between the orders of men and women, arising from the strict enclosure to which women were subjected. This rigorous enclosure usual in the East, was imposed on all nuns in the West, first by bishops and particular councils, and afterwards by the Holy See. Boniface made it an inviolable law for all professed nuns; and the Council of Trent confirmed that constitution. Hence it was impossible for religious women to undertake works of charity incompatible with the enclosure. The education of young girls alone was permitted to them, and that under somewhat inconvenient conditions. It was also impossible for them to organise on the lines of the Mendicant Orders, that is to say to have a superior general over several houses and members attached to a province rather than to a monastery. The difficulty was sometimes avoided by having tertiary sisters, bound only by simple vows, and dispensed from the enclosure.

Different Kinds of Nuns

Only nuns of the Latin Church only are considered here. As regards their object, nuns may be purely contemplative, seeking personal perfection by close union with God; such are most of the strictly enclosed congregations, as Praemonstratensian Canonesses, Carmelites, and Poor Clares; or they may combine this with the practice of works of charity, foreign missions, like the White Sisters, and certain Franciscan Tertiaries; the education of young girls, like the Ursulines and Visitandines; the care of the sick, orphans, lunatics, and aged persons, like many of the congregations called Hospitallers, Sisters of Charity, and Little Sisters of the Poor. When the works of mercy are corporal, and above all carried on outside the convent, the congregations are called active. Teaching communities are classed rather among those leading a mixed life, devoting themselves to works which in themselves require union with God and contemplation.

As regards their origin, congregations of nuns are either connected with a first order or congregation of men, as in the case of most of the older congregations, Carmelites, Poor Clares and Dominicans; or are founded independently, like the Ursulines.

As regards their juridical condition, we distinguish (a) nuns properly so-called, having solemn vows with papal enclosure, whose homes are monasteries; (b) nuns belonging to the old approved orders with solemn vows, but taking only simple vows by special dispensation of the Holy See; (c) sisters with simple vows dependent on the Holy See; (d) sisters under diocesan government. The house of sisters under simple vows, and the congregations themselves are canonically called conservatoria. These do not always fulfil all the essential conditions of the religious state. Those which do are more correctly called religious congregations than the others, which are called piae congregationes, piae societates (pious congregations or pious societies).

The most well-known orders of religious women are as follows:

Beguines

The Beguines are a mendicant order of urban women, often wealthy, who administer to the poor and ill. They take no solemn vows only simple ones, but normally remain celibate. The Beguines are most prominent in the cities of Brabant, Flanders and in the Rhineland, though a few Beguines can be found elsewhere, especially in the communes of Lombardy. Local rulers, both secular and ecclesiastic, tend to look with disfavour on mendicant women and try to force them into convents. However, they are not formally recognised by the pope, and balance on the fine line dividing heresy and acceptance, and individual bishops can rule for or against them.

Hospital Sisters of the Mercy of Jesus

These sisters are established in religion under the Rule of St. Augustine. Before the end of the thirteenth century the Hôtel-Dieu of Dieppe (Diocese of Rouen) was served by Hermit Sisters of St. Augustine. They formed a secular congregation, lived on goods held in common and on alms, and observed constitutions drawn up for their use. Apart from the services they rendered to the Hôtel-Dieu, they were also employed in assisting the sick poor in all quarters of the city. To these primitive hospitallers is connected, by an unbroken chain of credible traditions, the Institute of the Mercy of Jesus, a branch of the order founded by the Bishop of Hippo. The constitution establishes two classes of religious: lay sisters and choir sisters. The former are employed at the manual tasks of the community, in order to relieve the choir religious. They are not obliged to recite the Divine Office, neither do they nurse the sick. The choir religious are obliged to recite the Divine Office in common, and daily employed in attendance on the sick. They are obliged as far as health will permit to go at least once a day to the hospital to render some service to the poor. Two of their number take in turn the night-watch in the wards.

Poor Clares

The Poor Clares is a sister order to the Franciscan, founded by Clara of Assisi. She joins Francis of Assisi at the age of eighteen, much against the wishes of her family. Her sister Agnes joins soon after. Their father sends twelve armed men to bring Agnes back, but Clara's prayers make her so heavy that the men are unable to budge her.

The Poor Clares follow a strict rule, enjoining absolute poverty, mortification of the flesh, and austerity. Pope Innocent II guaranteed their absolute poverty, but Pope Gregory IX tries to make the order accept the ownership of property, and income from rent. However, Clara speaks with the pope, and such is her conviction that Gregory also grants the right of absolute poverty to the Order. However a few houses of the order accept property, mirroring the split of the Franciscans. Those Poor Clares who accept the ownership of property are known as Urbanists.

Monastic Orders accepting men and women: the Order of Fontrevault (similar to the Gilbertines), Humiliati, Praemonstratensians

Mendicant Orders accepting men and women: Carmelites, Dominicans

## Orders of Nuns in Ars Magica

In all respects except the obvious (their sex), nuns can be treated as either monks (for contemplative orders) or friars (for mendicant orders).